Monday, 1 March 2010

Like I promised, I've finally put together a rudimentary guide to using your UFJ account to do bank transfers with their ATMs.

Although there IS an English menu, UFJ does NOT have a transfer button to do things like say, pay your rent or send money anywhere! For English, you only have access to basic functions like withdrawals, deposits and checking your bank balance.

This is the first screen you'll see as you approach the scary ATM machine. See that English button? Don't push it. It won't help you here. As indicated, hit that お振り込み (transfer "furikomi") button, and we're off!

This page lists after hours bank fees. When I did this, it was after hours so this probably won't come up if you do it in banking hours. Press that green button to continue.

This is just a fraud warning screen. Press the blue button on the left.

If you have the usual UFJ cash card, press the button indicated here. See that red button on the top, right hand corner? I like to call it the "abort" button. Screw up on any of the screens, press this to cancel your session. Über useful ne?

Next, enter your PIN number. Mine is.. nah, it's a secret.

If you make regular payments (say for rent), it's a great idea to get the staff to make a "furikomi cardo" (transfer card) for you at an ATM, which will bypass the next few steps of inputing the recipient's bank details all over again. Otherwise, good practise I suppose.

This is a list of banks. You'll have to use your eagle eyes to recognise a bit of kanji. UFJ branches are easier. If the bank is not listed here, press the "other banks" button.

If it IS a UFJ bank, select the branch here. UFJ branch not on this screen? Select the "more" button.

If it's an outside bank you select the first letter of the BANK's name. In this example, I'm looking for Kyoto Bank, so that would be "ki" (キ). You'll have to know your katakana alphabet here.

Ok, so here you see all the banks starting with "ki", the button I've marked is Kyoto Bank.

Now we have to get the BRANCH of the (in this case) Kyoto Bank. Again, select the first letter of the bank BRANCH's name.

The previous screen I just selected "ki", so here are the BRANCHES that start with "ki".

Ok, so now we have the bank and branch in place, we have to tell WHAT kind of account this is. In most cases it will be a standard bank account, so press the left button.

Enter the account number to send the money and press that green button.

Put in the transfer amount, hit the yen key, followed by the adjacent green button.

This just says it won't be processed until the next business day because it was out of banking hours at this time.

If you have some kind of special student/corporate number use the other button. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, press the button indicated.

EDIT:The "special number" 入力する (input) is a place where you can add a reference number if you need to: "I add my reference number with my Name in English - top-click on the left button: 入力する). I just hit a
space after typing in my full name and then add my reference number.
The receipt that the ATM spits out will show the 'transfer to-Bank
details", and below that, my name in English on one line with the
Reference number on another line." (Thanks Ken!)

This screen is just an identity check. If you see your name where it's indicated, press "はい" (yes).

This is a final check screen with all the details. Of course I've blanked out all the details for privacy. If it's all ok, press the green confirmation button!

Because I did this just for this demonstration I didn't go any further. From memory the following screens asks if you want a receipt and if you want to do any other transactions. Easy huh?

I'd just like to add a little disclaimer: While I think I've tried to do this walk-through as clear as I can. (I was drinking a can of chu-hi writing this) I take NO responsibility if somehow you cause earthquakes, tsunamis or send your money to my account by "accident". If you panic at any stage, hit that red "abort" button on most of the top right-hand screens, and ask for staff/security guard to help. I KNOW how stressful it is to work these things in Japanese.

An email has been sent to UFJ to add some English to bank transfers to hopefully rectify this situation in the future to make this post redundant, but personally I'm not holding my breath. Considering the amount of English speakers with UFJ accounts I don't think it's too much to ask, is it?

If you are a traveller here and have a foreign ATM card, you CAN'T use your card here at all. Instead go to Citibank where facilities like Cirrus allow you to use your home card.

If this helps anyone, please leave a comment of thanks. Just keeping my karma clean..

UPDATE: Apparently it is possible to have your account online now:

"I set myself up with an online MUFJ bank account. I can't read kanji
but using Chrome Browser I could translate the essential Japanese. If
you try and do it right, they'll send you this cute looking toy
calculator, which is in fact, is a special password creator. When I'm
working my way through the online MUFJ furikomi (bank transfer) windows I
come to a page where I have to press the little red "1" on this cute
little password creator, it gives me four numbers that I put in the
password box. Pretty, pretty, pretty Cool.
Now I can do furikomi from the comfort of my home. That's all I use the
online for, in addition to checking my balance. The only limitation with
the online furikomi is that you can only transfer up to ¥100,000.
However, at the bank branch ATM I transferred as much a ¥300,000."

(thanks to Ken!)

So there you go, maybe UFJ has actually done something to keep up with the times! (I wonder if the bank interest is still at 0.01%? LOL

Good call! I've always referred to them as UFJ, but you're absolutely right. MUFG are the same bank, so the screens will be the same although I've seen some ATMs don't have the exact same graphics, but they're set up the same way. I've change the post title to include MUFG ATMs. Ta.

Hey! Thanks for writing this. As a foreigner living in japan using UFJ, i had NO idea you could do this, so this is super useful. I have a question for you. Do you think you can do this same kind of bank transfer but to American bank accounts? As in put money from your UFJ account to you US bank account? I assume there will be all kinds of foreign exchange fees and such but just wondering if it can be done. Thanks!

Can you do a transfer without a bank card, just with cash. Bank staff helped me do it before, but now I am tying to do it myself, but cant get past the screen with two options, both options seem to want a card put in... and cant get past that point...

It's possible at some ATMs to do a transfer with cash. I haven't done it with UFJ before though. I didn't need to. I believe you have to look for an option around the time it asks to put your card in where it might give you an option for cash (現金).

Thanks for the helpful post. I set up a Lloyds account and make a furikomi transfer successfully. After you have completed a furikomi, that payee will appear in a history list. You can just select a previous payee from the list during future transactions. If you select a previous payee, the ATM will ask you only for the amount you want to transfer. This is very convenient, but Jimmy's guide is important for completing the first furikomi.

If you have an iPhone, get an app called "Human Japanese". It's one of the few things that have given me the most motivation to learn (though I don't have that much to begin with!) I've heard good things about Japanese Pod 101, but haven't used it personally.

You will hear a lot of the same words over and over eg. "kawaii", "oishii", "sugoi" to name a few. To be honest, I had help to write this guide from a native, so I am miles and miles far from fluent.

Get out of your English bubble and speak with Japanese people as much as possible. Gotta learn to crawl before you can walk.

thank you so much Jimmy! ^-^I think it's almost two years after you post this tips but this is the most helpful guide I can find.I dare to transfer money to my friend coz' your great information.i've got lot of friends who just want send money via ATM but cancel it coz those curly letters :DI'll share your tips and God bless u, Jimmy! ^-^

Hey no problem Emmy. If only I had a 100 yen for every person this post has helped. lol

While UFJ have not updated the English part of their ATMs to do transfers, they have a new screen which allows you to select a previous transaction's details which makes this super easy for recurring payments. It comes up after you hit the furikomi button.

Hi Kiwi. Sorry for the late reply. You can't do an ATM international transfer directly without setting up something like the Lloyds service I mentioned. You CAN do a transfer if you go to an actual UFJ branch. I haven't done it that way but I've heard it's about 4,000 yen (as opposed to 2,000 yen with Lloyds *not including what your international bank and UFJ transfer fees incurs).

Oh hi Nicol. I remember you! I'm not in Japan anymore, so it's a bit hard to check. From memory it was just branch and account numbers. V numbers sound like a credit card. What you should do is take the info to your bank and say "tetsudatte okudasai" (help please) to the staff. Always worked for me! I hope you're enjoying Japan! Ja ne

Hi !Even in 2014 thank you so much for posting that !Here is my question : do you know if the transfer is effective in the same day if you do it during business hours ? If I depose cash on a bank account via UFJ branch, does the owner will have this money same day ? *thanks a lot

Hi Emilie. I used to transfer money from auction wins, and they did go in the same day. Do it as early as possible. If you can you should try to do your transfer at least the day before though. Have a nice day :)

Hi guys, know this is an old post, just wondering if anyone has any advise...I live in japan and have the MUFG debit card, I am overseas in Malaysia for a few months and using the debit card for cash withdrawls, I know the exchange rate will suck but its my only option, anyways I keep getting insufficient fund messages after some withdrawals even though definitely enough in the account, is there a withdrawal limit put on the cards for overseas withdrawals??Anyone had similar experiences? Mines cutting off before 100,000 yen. Tried ringing the number on the card but as I dont speak Japanese and they dont have anyone speaking English in the service centre, that didnt get me far!Thanks in advance!

That 100,000 yen sounds like a daily limit which sounds normal for an international ATM withdrawal. I don't think there is any way around that other than taking out your maximum every day even if you don't need it and carry a lot of cash! Credit card may be another option.

I also have a (probably quite easy) question and would be awesome if you can help me out on this one. I lived in Japan for a year some time ago and got a MUFG bank account. I still do online banking with that acc from abroad but I was told if i don't use my account at all for a year, it gets... just deleted. Is that true?

Well, my actual question is... I haven't used my card in many months and forgot lots about how things work but going back to Japan for travel this year. I most likely have forgotten my PIN but want to deposit cash on my account to be able to continue using online banking when I'm out of Japan again. Is it possible to deposit cash without having to use a PIN? Like... can I just deposit cash on an account without logging in? It seems like my account isn't open for oversea-money transfer which means I can't deposit money from my home-bank account to my japanese one.

Hi Keia. I can verify your account will still be open. How long for I don't know. I have another account with another bank than has 10 yen in it and the bank still sends me emails like it's still active. Completely untouched for 3 years!

There should be no problem depositing money into the account if you remember your account number, but I think you won't be able to get it out if you don't know your PIN!

For travel I'd recommend a credit card with no international fee transactions. That's how I've always done it. I still have a bit of yen here. I've never bothered to change it back to AUD. Or else use your normal home card and take out as much as you need. Japan is still cash based.

Hmm I am not sure why so many of you expect Mitsubishi to spend time and effort on upgrading their English atm menus. The number of English users is small enough to be considered a rounding error. I'm sure they keep track of the number of times people hit the English button and find it to be far below 1 percent. MUFG isn't targeting tourists, and even most foreigners who live in Japan understand Japanese - so there is no return on investment for them to justify the work.

As for depositing cash, withdraw or deposit cash at the counter if you have your pass book and ID.

By law, Japanese banks can not close accounts that have money in them, so no worry about accounts disappearing.

If you want to do international transfers directly from MUFG, the cheapest and easiest way is to register the destination account at the bank branch office, and then it will show up for online banking.

The cheapest way overall to transfer money overseas is to use transferwise. You make a domestic transfer to them, and then they make a domestic transfer to your destination account.

Depending on your country, you can also sign up for seven bank, and use their international transfer service, which works with western union overseas.

Hi Shiruba, The last figure I found was 1.5% as of 4 years ago. Sure, it's small but it is still about 1.98 million foreign residents! MUFG SHOULD spend time and effort providing for this because they are a service, not holding our money out of kindness. Not only this but the fees of transferring your own money is ridiculous.

Unfortunately for a lot of English teachers, MUFG is the default account you get set up with. They have an English button. I'm sure it wouldn't be that difficult to update it. Japan Post and Rail had done it. MUFG is not the only bank. If I was still living there I would not use them. They are a joke.

This is my most viewed post on my blog so there is a need for this. Dealing with in and outgoings of your own money is stressful in another language. Thanks for your information though. I'm sure others will be interested to know it.

Hi,just for reference, the government says that the number of foreigners in Japan is around 1.7 percent, including Zainichi Koreans. Of this number, more than two thirds are Chinese or Korean. So people from countries like the US and UK are part of "other", which puts them well under one percent of the population. (add to that, the fact that a considerable number of even those study the language before moving).

In not saying its "right", just that businesses rarely justify doing anything for well less than one percent of their potential customers unless that is their niche.

Imagine a bank in the US adding Korean because 0.9 percent of their customers need it... Unlikely. They add Spanish and in some areas Chinese, because the percentage of customers that want it is well over 10 percent.

Korean and Chinese would be well ahead of English on the priority list in terms of tourists as well.

Seven bank, for example is actively targeting both tourists and resident foreigners.

As for the fees Mitsubishi bank charges, I can't disagree there. I would recommend seven bank for those who want to send money to Philippines, etc., and transferwise for the US and other countries.

As far as the popularity of this post... Of course, because it's in English. If you get a million views or something, then it might even make sense to show it to Mitsubishi to prove there is a market. A signature petition might not even hurt.

Hey Shiruba, I figured that percentage would include non-English speakers. You make a good point that Korean and Chinese are a large percentage of foreigners in Japan. So why don't they even cater for that? In Australia we have multilingual ATMs - Chinese, Korean, and yes, Japanese.

In Japan I can think of two banks that have better English menus and even OMG, online banking in English! Even your example of Seven bank shows that it is worthwhile targeting both. If I knew what I found out much later I would've kicked MUFG to the kerb. I wouldn't do a petition to make them change. I'd look at the alternatives. Banks and other businesses don't change because like the worst things that bugged me the typical response was always "shoganai".

But finally, like you imply Japan doesn't have to change for us, and I don't expect it to. I had enough of the compromises so I left. I'm happy that out of the 700 or so "useless" posts some of you guys actually found it useful and made your lives a little bit easier in Nippon.

Hi froghitter88 (and Helen?), I never needed to add a reference number. I just contacted the recipient to let them know I did the transfer. Doing transfers, it was only a matter of adding their bank and account number (you don't even need to write their name) and I don't recall a place to add reference numbers/notes. Having said that it's been a while since I left, but I don't think UFJ has changed anything! Hopefully somebody can reply here maybe able to prove me wrong?

First, Jimmy "Chu-ing" in Japan. Sorry, couldn't resist. Loved your comment about drinking Chu-Hai while making this amazing timeless post. As you know the custom here, I show you my gratitude..... m(_ _)m.

@froghitter88 & @HelenI add my reference number with my Name in English. (Picture #17, from top-click on the left button: 入力する). I use Transferwise and I just hit a space after typing in my full name and then add my reference number. The receipt that the ATM spits out will show the 'transfer to-Bank details", and below that, my name in English on one line with the Reference number on another line.

Want to have some fun?

I set my self up with an online MUFJ bank account. I can't read kanji but using Chrome Browser I could translate the essential Japanese. If you try and do it right, they'll send you this cute looking toy calculator, which is in fact, is a special password creator. When I'm working my way through the online MUFJ furikomi (bank transfer) windows I come to a page where I have to press the little red "1" on this cute little password creator, it gives me four numbers that I put in the password box. Pretty, pretty, pretty Cool.

Now I can do furikomi from the comfort of my home. That's all I use the online for, in addition to checking my balance. The only limitation with the online furikomi is that you can only transfer up to ¥100,000. However, at the bank branch ATM I transferred as much a ¥300,000.

Once again, thank you Jimmy for making this easy-timeless post.. m(_ _)m( ・_・)ノ

If you are in Japan, the MUFJ online banking is only in Japanese. A few posts up Ken says he uses it by translating it with Google Chrome browser. When I lived in Japan I did all my transfers at the ATMs. Once you do a few times, it becomes less scary.

Hi Jimmy! I know my comment is off-topic, but how do you activate an MUFJ atm debit card (or is it called cashcard)? I plan to do furikomi but I have yet to activate my card and I have no idea how to do it since my japanese level is very low. Emma

Hi Emcaparos, When you apply for an ATM card there is a form to fill out your details including, from what I remember choosing your own PIN number. Just go into the bank saying you want to open an account. It goes without saying you need to be a resident to do this. The English school I worked for helped fill out the form.

About Me

For some reason I have decided to leave my fine, if a little ordinary well paying job and family home where I don't pay rent and move to a country where I won't be able to read and barely speak the language. I have been to Tokyo before for a very short time. I was lost, confused and virtually on another planet. Why am I doing this? Because I HAVE to. I need to get out of the comfort zone I am in and really begin to live my life, start again and hopefully be happier overall. When I am sober I am thinking, "What the hell are you thinking?!?" but when I'm drunk I'm thinking "WOO HOOO!". So maybe if I'm drunk all the time I will accept this better.